Category: VR

Inception, a next-generation immersive content network, has announced a $15 million Series A funding round led by RTL Group, the broadcast, content and digital media giant. This investment helps Inception expand its content catalogue, enhance its technology platform and accelerate growth.

Inception’s home page showcases a ton of 360 video content, most of which looks mildly tittilating and/or annoying on first glance. Interestingly enough, scroll down the page and you’ll see a bunch of Time Out branded content. I haven’t seen a copy of Time Out in years!

RTL Group is a media conglomerate with interests in 59 television and 31 radio stations in 10 countries across Europe. Their home page is also not a model of modern aestheticism.

Brownlee, though he says he was merely at a loss for words, doesn’t seem particularly blown away. It’s easy to imagine why: small glasses-free 3D displays came and went not because they didn’t work but because they aren’t compelling. If this is just a high-fidelity version of a technology that failed for a dozen reasons, it’s hard to muster any enthusiasm.

Hydrogen will ship sometime in the future and cost far too much. A few movie directors will probably buy them, use them a few times, and go back to their iPhones.

One of the more fascinating startups in the ever-so-heated virtual reality field has to be Spaces. A DreamWorks Animation spin-out in Los Angeles funded to the tune of $39.5 million by U.S., Chinese and Japanese investors, the 16-month-old is doing something that seems fairly far out — designing virtual reality theme parks in China.

These VR attractions are in prototype stage now at large-sized back lots in LA, Orlando and China, and are set to open by early next year in at least two key Chinese locations. This comes through a $30 million joint venture with Chinese theme park operator Songcheng Performance in May 2016, celebrated at a formal ceremony where the Blue Man Group performed. Now, Spaces’ virtual reality attractions will reach 23 million thrill seekers in China who want to experience the latest enhanced rides, stage shows and live-streaming video content — all without getting nauseous.

Last year at Samsung’s developer conference in San Francisco, I watched people ride a VR rollercoaster. The single car coaster was mounted on hydraulics, not a track, and moved up and down and to and fro in sync with VR content displayed on individual Gear VR headsets worn by riders. Look at the photo at the top of this post and you’ll get the idea.

Pros: VR coasters are cheaper to build and install than the real thing, take up less real estate, and can be reconfigured via software to simulate endless coaster layouts.

Today, we’re debuting our latest collaboration: “On the Verge,” an original VR video series that provides an up-close, behind-the-scenes look at the lives of young MLB stars around the game.

The first episodes of “On the Verge” will take you on the field, inside the batting cage, in the clubhouse and to more places with young MLB stars Josh Bell (Pittsburgh Pirates), Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox), Manuel Margot (San Diego Padres), and Jose Berrios (Minnesota Twins). These four episodes are available today in the recently released MLB.com At Bat VR Daydream app, which combines live video streaming and real-time stats for a complete live game sports experience in VR. They’ll also be available on MLB’s official YouTube account soon.

I love this direction for VR and other cutting edge storytelling tech: Don’t (just) recreate content we already get via traditional channels. Leverage VR’s unique capabilities to give us something unique. Behind the scenes is perfect; if I’m going to be allowed somewhere usually off-limits to me, like an MLB clubhouse, I’m going to want to look everywhere once I’m inside. VR is perfect for that.

On the Verge leverages Google’s Jump VR creation platform:

We worked closely with MLB to tell these stories from a new perspective amidst unique access points around ballparks with Jump, Google’s platform for VR video capture that combines high-quality VR cameras and automated stitching. Because the Jump cameras don’t take up a ton of space, it allowed MLB to capture memorable moments on and off the field, ultimately producing fun stories of what it’s like to be big leaguers.

The first four episodes are available now via the MLB.com At Bat VR Daydream app. Episodes will also be available on YouTube to be viewed via Cardboard and Daydream View players.

Backed by the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Limbix is less than a year old. The creators of its new service, including its chief executive and co-founder, Benjamin Lewis, worked in the seminal virtual reality efforts at Google and Facebook.

The hardware and software they are working with is still very young, but Limbix builds on more than two decades of research and clinical trials involving virtual reality and exposure therapy. At a time when much-hyped headsets like the Daydream and Facebook’s Oculus are still struggling to find a wide audience in the world of gaming — let alone other markets — psychology is an area where technology and medical experts believe this technology can be a benefit.

VR is gaining steam in the medical community, amongst mental health professionals and as a supplement to medication-based treatment. Early results are incredibly promising; adapting proven therapy techniques to virtual reality seems to be an obvious starting point with huge upside. The trick will be getting so-called digital medicine approved as a legit form of care by regulators and insurance companies.

Until health care providers are able to bill insurers for VR-based treatments, so-called digital medicine will only be a option for those with deep pockets and/or access to practitioners willing to treat people for free.